


Moomintroll and the Guardian of Spring

by Tengugirl



Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: AU, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Eventual Romance, M/M, More tags to be added in the future, more characters will be added as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:21:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28930911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tengugirl/pseuds/Tengugirl
Summary: Moomintroll lives on a peaceful island in the south area of the great sea.One day his life changes when a giant bird kidnaps his dear friend Snorkmaiden instead of a boy named Snufkin, so now he must embark on an epic adventure to save her.Throughout his adventure, he would meet new people, make new friends and even find love in one special mumrik boy.This story is mostly a Moominvalley AU with  Wind Waker's story, but with some changes.(Title will be changed if I can think of something better, and the romance between Moomn and Snufkin will happen, but it might take a while to get there)
Relationships: Mumintrollet | Moomintroll/Snusmumriken | Snufkin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. The peaceful island of the moomins

**Author's Note:**

> Took a while to write this, but I'm happy the first chapter is finally done.  
> I apologize if the writing sucks, I'm super rusty in that area, also sorry if there's lots of dialogue, seems I don't know how to balance the dialogues and story, and if there's any grammar mistakes I'm sorry about that too. (I swear I proof read my stuff before posting, but somehow I always miss up mistakes and typos T_T)

This land as any other is full of many legends. But there is one in particular that has been passed down for many generations.... 

_Our story takes place in_ _a_ _land where the sun always shines so brightly and peace_ _reigns on every corner of it_ _._

_And in this land the four seasons come and go every year at their respective time._

_Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring._

_Each one of them is carefully watched over by a guardian spirit, which have the duty to bring these seasons over the land when their time comes._

_And that balance has been kept that way for many years._

_But then everything changed when the_ _g_ _uardian spirit of Winter, the Lady of the Cold, made the season last longer than what it was meant to be._

_The_ _g_ _uardian spirits of the other seasons were clearly furious, for the balance between the seasons should never be broken._

_This filled the Lady of the Cold with rage, and in an attempt to take her revenge on the other spirits, she covered the land in snow once more in the middle of spring, disrupting the balance of the seasons._

_It was only then, that the Guardian of Spring decided to finally step in and put an end to the witch's havoc._

_The battle between the two beings was fierce, but in the end the Guardian was victorious and sealed the witch away_ _with the help of magical melody and a sacred sword_ _._

_But even though the Lady of the Cold had been defeated_ _,_ _the damage that she caused to the land couldn't be fixed._

_And so, eventually the_ _gu_ _ardian_ _spirits_ _disappeared without leaving a trace and the land was forgotten by everyone._

_What ever happened to the ancient land? No one knows._

_But some believe that the answer lies in the depths of the sea that we sail on every day._

_As for the evil witch, people believe that one day she will return, for the seal of her prison is getting weaker with each day that passes, but we should not fear, for the Guardian of Spring shall return and stop her once more._

"Wow, that was amazing" Moomintroll said, this book that he found hidden in the attic was really interesting. 

"Moomin, could you help me out with the tea and take it to the living room?" Moominmamma asked while she was cleaning the kitchen. 

"Of course, Mamma" Moomintroll put the book away, right over a small table in the living room. 

"How is the reading going so far?” 

"Well, that book is really interesting, I wonder if all of that really happened…" Moomin was walking to the living room with the tea and placed it carefully on the table. 

"Well son, it's hard to tell whether a legend is real or not" Moominpappa took a sip from his tea “But I don't see the reason why we should think this one in particular isn't" 

Moomintroll grabbed the book once more and opened it, he looked over the pictures that were in it, each one depicted the events of the legend, and there was one in particular that always caught his attention, it was one that depicted a boy wearing a green tunic and hat that was holding a sword about to land a hit to his opponent, and on the opposite side was the lady of the Cold, getting ready to attack. 

For some reason, every time he looked at the picture of the Guardian of Spring, he ended up being mesmerized by it. This was embarrassing for him; how could he be attracted to a picture of a guy that probably doesn’t exist? Well, considering he once fell for a wooden statue, he shouldn't be surprised if he fell in love with a picture now.... 

"Moomin!" his thoughts were interrupted by Little My's screams, when did she got inside the house in the first place? "Aren't you coming outside and hang out with us?" 

"Oh! I'm sorry, I guess I forgot…" Moomin has promised Little My and Snorkmaiden they would just hang out on the beach. He once again placed the book back to a shelf, put on his blue bandanna around his neck, grabbed his blue bag and went outside. 

* * *

“Moomin! What took you so long?” Snorkmaiden had been sitting on a rock, waiting for the young troll to come outside. 

“I’m sorry, I got distracted with a book, it was a really interesting one” Moomintroll explained. 

“What was it about?” Snorkmaiden was now curious, perhaps she could finally have a new thing to read. 

“It was about an ancient legend of the spirits of winter and spring, it was incredible” 

“Anything but _that_ story…” Little My complained “I read it once and felt really uncomfortable” 

“What?” Moomintroll was confused, of course there were certain stories that can make one feel uncomfortable, but this one in particular had nothing that could make someone feel that way. 

“This might sound crazy, but when I read that story, I had this strange feeling that I’ve seen that guardian of spring before, as in meeting him” she explained “Then I got a headache because I was trying so hard to remember something, yet I couldn’t recall that exact memory. It was quite strange” 

“That’s odd.... I’ve read that story as well, but never felt something like that.” Snorkmaiden said “What about you Moomin? You’ve ever had that feeling before?” 

“Not really” 

“Then let’s stop talking about old stories and let’s do something fun!” Little My exclaimed. 

Now it was time to have fun and enjoy each other’s company, the problem is that there isn’t that much to do on a small island such as the one they live. 

* * *

Meanwhile, not so far from the island, somewhere in the great sea. 

A ship was sailing the seas, and it didn’t have a specific course. 

And at the top of the ship’s mast, was a boy that played some tunes in his mouth organ without a single worry. 

But that moment of peace didn’t last long. 

He heard the sound of a bird, for a moment one could have believed it was just a seagull, but when he looked around to find the source of the sound, he suddenly felt how he was being snatched from the place he was sitting on. 

Now he was up in the sky, caught in the claws of a blue phoenix. 

“What in the world was that?!” Joxter had suddenly being woken up from his nap by the sound of the giant bird. 

“Uh...Joxter, I think we might have a problem” Hodgkins looked through his telescope, Joxter immediately snatched the object from his hands to see the issue. 

Joxter freeze at the sight of a blue phoenix flying in the horizon with his beloved son. “Snufkin! Follow that bird and prepare the cannon! We must get my son back!” 

And so, the ship and its crew started to hunt down the giant bird. 

* * *

“Now what do we do? And do not say we should try to catch some crabs” Little My said. 

The three had been playing tag for a while now, but eventually got tired of it, now they were laying on the beach, just looking at the sky. That was the only downside of living in such a small island, there wasn’t that much to do and rarely anything interesting happened. 

No wonder why Moomin always dreamed of traveling all over the world and having exciting adventures, but sadly that dream might never come true. 

“Oh! I just remembered something” Snorkmaiden ran back to her house to look for something, by the time she was back she had a telescope in her paws “My brother gave this to me a few days ago, you wanna try and look through it?” 

“I’ll go first!” Little My snatched the object from Snorkmaiden’s paws and looked through it; something peculiar had caught her attention. “Guys, you might wanna see this” 

Moomintroll now grabbed the telescope and tried to find what Little My had been looking at, his eyes went wide in less than a second. 

Off the distance, up in the sky, was a giant blue bird flying, and on its claws was a boy trying desperately to get off. 

“There’s someone over there with the bird, and it seems to be trapped!” Moomintroll screamed. 

“Oh no! What do we do?” 

“I don’t think we have to worry about that. Look over there on the sea!” Little My pointed to a ship that seemed to be following the bird. 

Cannonballs started to fly in the sky, whoever was on that ship was trying to knock off the bird and save the boy. 

They only watched the confrontation, for a moment they thought the bird would just get away with the boy, but then a cannonball hit the bird right in the face and made the creature let go off the boy, which now was falling from the sky. This made Snorkmaiden gasp in horror. That boy could die if no one catches him soon! 

But then they all sighed in relief when they noticed the boy landed at the top of a mountain that was on the east side of the island, and since that zone was full of trees it was very likely the boy landed in one of them. 

Suddenly, Moomintroll started running right to the mountain, completely ignoring Little My and Snorkmaiden’s screams were they mentioned he shouldn’t go on his own and that they had to get one of the adults instead; he had to make sure nothing bad happened to the boy and they couldn’t waste more time trying to explain the situation to either his parents or the Snork. 

Besides, Moomin has been to that forest at the top of the mountain before, he would be fine. 

Moomintroll walked through the forest, looking carefully at each tree and calling out for the boy. Then he found a green hat with a red feather stuck on it on the ground, and not too far from it he found a mouth organ. 

“These must belong to that boy, it seems these things fell down from him when that bird dropped him from the sky” Moomin picked the hat and put the Harmonica in his bag, then continued his search; now he had another reason to locate the boy as fast as he could. 

* * *

Snufkin had no idea where he was, but he did know he was stuck on a tree. He tried getting off, but it seemed his green coat got stuck in a branch. Of course, taking it off was an option, but the fall to the ground wouldn’t be that nice since he was a couple of meters above the ground, he would be really lucky if he didn’t break anything if he were to fall down from this height. 

“Stupid phoenix, why couldn't it let me fall in the ocean or something like that?” Snufkin complained “Being stuck on a tree.... How embarrassing. Hopefully my dad will get here soon and get me down before anyone else sees me like this....” 

Then he heard someone screaming, unfortunately that didn’t sound like his father. 

Seems this wasn’t his day of luck. 

Moomintroll had been calling out for the boy, hoping to get a response. Then he saw someone hanging on a quite tall tree. 

Seems he didn’t had to look for the boy anymore. 

“Hey! You okay over there?” Moomin shouted “I saw you fall from the sky, so I came to help you!” 

“I’m fine! And I don’t need your help!” the last thing Snufkin wanted was help from a stranger, he could get himself off this tree on his own, of course he had to figure out how to do that first. 

“Are you sure? You seem to be stuck” the troll wasn’t that convinced at all that he was fine up there. 

“I’m not stuck! And once again I do not need your-” he heard the sound of a branch breaking, and now he was falling down. 

“Oh no!” Moomintroll moved as fast as he could, he had to catch this guy or else they could get seriously hurt. In the process he had dropped the hat to the floor. 

Snufkin only watched how he was falling to his doom, but he never touched the ground. He had no idea when exactly he closed his eyes, but when he opened them up, he saw that this young moomin had caught him and was now carrying him in a bridal style. 

He preferred to be dead right now. 

“That was close....” Moomin sighed “Are you alright? You didn’t hurt yourself?” 

Snufkin could feel his own face on fire right now, he was on the arms of a total stranger, to make things worse there faces were quite close to each other, how embarrassing this situation was for the young mumrik. 

“I’m fine.... Could you please put me down? I can walk by myself” He tried not to look at the moomin to the face so he could hide his own embarrassment. 

“Oh! Of course! I’m sorry....” Moomintroll was now putting him down, now it was his turn to be embarrassed. 

Snufkin was fixing his clothes and shaking the dust off, at least his clothes weren’t ruined, now all that was missing was his hat and... 

“My harmonica!” Snufkin exclaimed as he looked through his pockets, he was slowly starting to panic “Where is it?!” 

“You looking for this?” Moomin took out the instrument from his bag “I found it while I was looking for you. I just hope it’s not broken” 

Snufkin grabbed the instrument and tried to play something, the notes that came from it sounded fine, which meant the harmonica suffered no damage. “It's still working. Thank you, this is my most prized possession.... It means a lot to me.” 

“You're welcome” Moomintroll looked around to see where he dropped the hat he found “I suppose this hat belongs to you as well” 

“My hat!” Snufkin grabbed it and put it on “Seems I have to thank you once more...um.... what’s your name? I would like to thank you properly” 

“My name is Moomintroll, but my friends call me Moomin” 

“Well then, thank you Moomintroll.” Snufkin made a little bow gesture, which made Moomintroll chuckle “My name is Snufkin” 

“Snufkin....That’s a nice name....” Moomin didn’t realized he said that out loud, but Snufkin didn’t paid attention to what he said, which was such a huge relief for the young troll. 

The two boys started heading out of the forest, Moomintroll tried to start a conversation but couldn’t think of any interesting topics and he would rather not ask personal questions to Snufkin, given that they just met, but in the end that didn’t bother him at all, enjoying each other’s company was enough for him. 

Meanwhile Snufkin was surprised how comfortable he was around Moomintroll, he has never felt this way with a stranger, especially one who he just met five minutes ago; it normally took him a while to get adjusted to someone new, but with the young troll that wasn’t necessary. Perhaps it was just a unique quality of his species, though he isn’t sure of that, as he has never met any other moomins in the past during his travels with his father and friends. 

When they were close to the exit, they started to hear the voice of a man, who eventually caught up to them. 

Moomintroll had never seen someone like him, the man had a light blue colored fur and was wearing a brown coat over a white shirt with a blue stripe that had some oil stains. 

“There you are Snufkin! Thank goodness you’re safe” Hodgkins embraced the boy in a hug, happy that nothing bad happened to him. “You know you’re gonna be grounded for a week again, right?” 

Snufkin only sighed, of course his father was going to ground him again for this “Yes, I know. I’m truly sorry uncle Hodgkins, I didn’t mean to worry you all...” 

“I’m not the one you should tell that. And who’s your new friend?” 

“This is Moomintroll, he helped me get down from a tree I was stuck on” 

“More like, I caught you before you broke your bones from falling down a tall tree” Moomintroll teased the boy, whose face was starting to turn a red color. This made Hodgkins laugh in amusement. 

“Well, I must thank you for helping this troublesome boy out Moomintroll. The name is Hodgkins, but assuming your father has read those memoirs he’s been working on, I suppose you already know who I am” Moomin was extremely confused, and he was about to ask what the man was talking about, but was interrupted “Now let’s go back with the others before Joxter starts to lose his mind out of worry again” 

* * *

Once they were finally outside of the forest, they were greeted by the most amazing view of the island, you could see everything from the top of the mountain, which is why Moomintroll came to this place every once in a while, not only to admire the view but to feel the wind in his white fur. 

But the wind wasn’t the only one that greeted them, on the other side of the bridge were Little My and Snorkmaiden, who apparently have been waiting for Moomin to return. 

Moomin waved his hand at them and the girls returned the gesture. 

“Moomin!” Snorkmaiden was now walking through the bridge so she could give him a big hug, she was happy that Moomin was safe and also wanted to meet the boy that fell from the sky. 

Everything was perfect. 

But that moment didn’t last long. 

The sound of a bird could be heard not too far from their location, and suddenly a blue phoenix shows up and flies right into the bridge, capturing Snorkmaiden with his claws. 

The girl was just screaming for help, while the bird was flying away from the island. 

Moomintroll wasn’t going to let that thing get away with his friend. 

Out of mere impulse, he started running after it, forgetting that he was at the top of a mountain. At some point there was no more ground and he started falling down, luckily Snufkin acted quickly and grabbed him on time, but he couldn’t get him up on his own so Hodgkins helped him out, and pulled Moomin back up. 

“No! Snorkmaiden!” Moomin was about to start running again, but was stopped by Snufkin, who grabbed him tightly from the back “Let me go!” 

“So you can fall again to your death?! Have you lost your mind?!” 

“You don’t understand, I have to save her!” Moomintroll was trying to escape Snufkin’s grasp, but the boy’s grip on him was quite strong. 

“Don’t be stupid Moomintroll! There’s nothing you can do.” 

“Of course I can! I can still save her if you only you let me-” 

“Snufkin is right. You can’t do nothing to help her” Hodgkins spoke up. 

The bird was now far away from the island, far from Moomin’s reach. 

“She’s gone Moomintroll....” Snufkin finally let go from Moomin, who immediately walked to the border of the cliff. “I’m so sorry...” 

“Snorkmaiden...” he said in complete despair, he couldn’t protect his dear friend, and now she was gone. 

* * *

Back on the beach, there were Moomin’s parents, the Snork and two people who Moomin had never met in his life, but that seemed to know his father, given that they were talking to him as if he were an old friend. 

But his gaze was fixed on Snork, how was he supposed to tell him his sister had been kidnapped by a giant bird and that she was gone forever? 

Snufkin felt the distress on his new friend, so he placed his hand on his shoulder as a way to let him know he wasn’t alone on this, this made Moomin feel slightly better. He summoned all of his courage and started walking towards the group of adults that were reunited in front of a ship that was docked near his house. 

Moominmamma was the first one to greet him with a hug, she was so proud at her son’s bravery and for helping out someone in need, no matter how dangerous it was. 

While it’s true he made such a good deed by helping Snufkin out, he wasn’t able to help Snorkmaiden, and this guilty feeling was reflected in his face. 

“Moomin, is something wrong?” Moominmamma asked while having a paw placed on his cheek. Moomintroll didn’t dared to look at her. She then looked at the small group behind him, there were only faces of despair and sadness. “Why does everyone look so sad?” 

No one dared to say anything. 

Snork inspected the group carefully and noticed his sister was missing. 

“Wait, where’s Snorkmaiden? I thought she would be with you given she went to the top of the cliff to wait for your return.” Snork was starting to get worried. 

“Well, the thing is....” Moomin tried to explain what happened but not a single word came from his mouth. 

Snufkin was about to speak up and explain everything, since Moomintroll was having such a hard time saying it himself, but Little My had the same idea, except she was going to be more straightforward and not that sensitive. 

“She was kidnapped by a giant bird!” Little My said. 

Snork’s calm expression changed to one that was a mix of fear and worry as soon as he heard this. 

“Little My, that’s no way to say something like this!” Moomin scolded the girl. 

“You were taking too long, besides, it’s better to drop things just the way they are” 

“Oh dear....Is that true?” Moominmamma asked, hoping that it wasn’t true. 

“I’m afraid it is ma’am” Snufkin took off his hat, allowing his brown hair to be seen “You see, when we got out from the woods, the girl starting running towards us and then.....” 

“That bird took her away” Moomintroll said looking at the sand. The memory of the event was coming back to him. He kept thinking of how he would have been able to save her, how she would still be here if only Moomin had pushed out of the way, allowing the bird to take him instead; was that any better? No, but at least Snorkmaiden would still be here and it was a better option than just stand by and do nothing. 

Why didn’t he do anything? Why did he stood still and just watched the event unfold? 

“Oh my dear sister....” Snork lamented, Moominmamma went to his side and tried to comfort him. 

“Isn’t there anything we can do? Perhaps we could track the bird down and save her” Moominpappa suggested. 

“I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do” Joxter spoke up “That bird is taking her to a distant island all the way to the north, which let me tell you, it’s a dangerous place” 

“What do you mean by that?” 

“The place that bird is taking that young girl, is a fortress that once belonged to a fearful group of pirates, but nowadays there’s no sign of the group and now is inhabited by an evil witch” Hodgkins explained “Ever since that mysterious witch took over the place, many children, mostly mumrik children, have been kidnapped.” 

“But my sister isn’t a mumrik, she’s a snork!” 

“Seems the bird confused your sister with Snufkin, we did hit it a cannonball on the face, that probably affected the bird’s vision” 

“So, what now? We are just going to do nothing? Moominpappa, this is my sister we’re talking about; we must do something!” Snork was getting desperate at this point. 

“I know, but I’m not sure what we can do” 

Now there was silence, everyone was just thinking about the situation and what could be done about it. Then Snufkin got an idea. 

“We could do a rescue mission” Everyone’s attention was now onto him “Listen, we have a ship that can perfectly get us to that island, and since everything that’s happened it’s mostly my fault, rescuing the girl is the least we can do” 

“No! We’re not going to that cursed place!” Joxter opposed to the idea. 

“But father-!” 

“Snufkin, this isn’t our problem, it’s their problem. We’re not embarking on a stupid rescue mission and that’s it!” 

“That this isn’t your problem? I’m sorry but the boy is right! You people brought that bird to our island, the least you can do is help saving Snorkmaiden!” Snork snapped at the man with a red hat. 

The tension between the group was starting to grow, so Moominpappa intervened to avoid any fight between both parties. 

“Everyone please, calm down. Instead of fighting, why don’t we discuss the matter inside? I’m sure we can reach an agreement of some sorts” 

Joxter took a deep breath to calm himself down. “Very well, let’s talk about this inside” 

And so, the adults started to walk into the house of the moomins, which despite being a relatively small cabin, surely everyone could fit inside in the living room. Snufkin was about to follow them, when suddenly his father stopped him. 

“You stay here with the rest of the kids; this is a discussion between adults” 

“But this whole thing concerns me too, I deserve to know whatever you are talking about” 

“No, it doesn’t. Now be a good boy and wait out here, I’ll tell you our final decision once I come back” 

Snufkin only sighed in defeat and obeyed his father, who then joined the rest of the adults inside the house. 

“Are we seriously going to wait here?” Little My asked, a bit annoyed they were being left out of this. 

“Yeah, it seems that’s how things are going to be” Moomintroll sighed. 

And so, the three just waited by the beach, it was going to be quite boring, so Little My went for a quick swim on the ocean and Moomintroll just laid down on the sand of the beach and looked up at the sky. 

Snufkin also didn’t intended just to sit down and do nothing, so he took out his mouth organ to play a tune, but just as he was about to place the instrument on his mouth, he stopped. He has already done so much damage by just playing his beloved harmonica, and the last thing he wanted to do was bring any more harm to these nice people. 

So, he just took a sit on a rock that was nearby and looked up at the sky. 

How is it possible he messed up so badly? 

* * *

Meanwhile, in the moomin household, the adults were trying to reach an agreement, but they made no progress on the matter. 

Moominmamma and Muddler went in the kitchen at some point of the conversation to prepare some tea, but everyone knew they left the room because things were starting to become more tense in the place; Snork remained on Moominpappa’s side, while Hodgkins was on Joxter’s side, the two remained silent during the whole thing, letting Moominpappa and Joxter discuss the issue, but perhaps that wasn’t the best decision at this point. 

“Joxter, please, we can’t just stand still and do nothing!” Moominpappa had been trying to reason with his old friend, but the man was proving to be quite stubborn. 

“For the fifth time Moomin, I’m not going to perform a stupid rescue mission and put ourselves in danger!” 

“Listen, if we plan this carefully no one will be in danger.” 

“No!” 

“Why are you so against this idea?! 

“Because I don’t want to put Snufkin in danger!” Joxter snapped. “Have you forgotten that thing is after mumrik children?” 

“No, I haven’t. Still, you can just simply keep him out of the plan” 

“It’s not that simple.... I don’t expect you to understand” Joxter avoided any visual contact with everyone. 

“Understand what exactly?” Moominpappa asked. 

“Snufkin, he.... he is very special” Joxter was almost close to telling the whole truth, and he really wanted to, but he knew he couldn’t do that “If Snufkin were to end up on the claws of that witch, let’s just say things will get pretty ugly” 

Silence covered the whole room. 

Moominpappa for a moment thought that Joxter was just joking and it was just an excuse to get out of this mess, but the serious tone in his voice meant that he wasn’t joking. Deep down he wanted to ask how bad things could get if his son were captured and even what was so special about the boy, but he also knew it would do no good to push the man to tell the whole story. 

“Listen, I’m really sorry, but we can’t help you” Joxter felt bad for not doing something to help them, but he had to put Snufkin’s safety over anything else. “Now, we must leave immediately, we’ve stayed far too long here” 

“You are already leaving?” Moominpaappa was hoping that he could catch up with his dear friends after not seeing them for a long time. “I suppose next time you guys decide to show up we could have a more normal conversation” 

“Sure, that is if we ever come back. We don’t usually come to the same place twice, but I guess that could change” Hodgkins hugged his good old friend and called Muddler to let him know they were leaving. 

* * *

Moomintroll, Snufkin and Little My were still on the beach, they have been looking at the clouds and calling out what their figures resemble, it got boring after a while, but thankfully they no longer had to keep waiting, for they heard the sound of footsteps coming closer to them. Snufkin got up from the ground and walked towards his father, who simply walked past his son and went straight to the ship, then Hodgkins and Muddler came out the house. 

“Uncle Hodgkins, what happened inside?” 

“Your father decided to stay out of this. We’re not doing anything to help that poor girl” Hodgkins sighed. 

“What?! You can’t be serious?!” 

“I’m really sorry, but your father doesn’t want to put you in any danger. Now come on, we must get everything ready to leave” 

Snufkin couldn’t believe what he just heard, this had to be some sort of joke, any other time he would have agreed with his father’s decision, but this time he wasn’t going to accept it, so he walked towards his dad, determined to change his mind on the situation, they were the ones who cause this mess, the least they could do is try to fix it. 

And as soon as he saw his father standing in front of the ship, he approached him to confront him. 

“Dad, you can’t be serious about leaving just like that. We have to do something and help Moomintroll’s friend!” 

“Son, you have to understand that it is extremely dangerous, I don’t wanna expose you to such danger” 

“Then, just don’t include me in any possible rescue plan! I’m 17 years old, I can perfectly stay back in the ship all by myself while you, uncle Hodgkins and Muddler break the girl out!” 

“Oh really? Snufkin, you do understand that we would be leaving you all alone on the ship that will be near the fortress of an evil witch that’s hunting down mumrik children?” Joxter was starting to get tired of this, but Snufkin was as stubborn as him. 

“Then I’ll just stay hidden and keep quiet” Snufkin wasn’t going to give up that easily, he was going to convince his father of saving Moomin’s friend no matter what.

Meanwhile Moomintroll and Little My watched how the boy and his father discussed the issue, but from the looks of it, things would get out of control if they didn’t reach to an agreement soon. Moomin began thinking of what he could do to stop the fight, then an idea came to his mind. 

“Excuse me” the two mumriks did not stopped talking when Moomin called them out, so he tried again. 

Nothing happened, seems he had to be more aggressive. 

“Excuse me! Could you two shut up for a second and hear me out?!” This caught everyone’s attention, Moomin was a bit embarrassed, he only wanted to stop the discussion between Snufkin and Joxter. 

“Mr. Joxter, sir, I know that you don’t want to put anyone of your crew in danger by trying to save my friend, so I have a proposition for you” Moomin noticed that Joxter was now intrigued, he just hopes now his idea is enough to change the man’s mind. “I will be the one to rescue Snorkmaiden, but you will have to take me to the fortress” 

This shocked everyone, especially Joxter. 

“You want us to take you where your friend is being held captive and then you do the rest?” 

“Exactly. You take me to the place that bird took her, help me get in and I’ll do the rest” 

Joxter was impressed, he still didn’t like the idea of getting near such a cursed place, but if this moomin was going to do all the hard job, the risk gets lowered. But before agreeing with this, he had to make sure this boy was fully onto the task. 

“Young boy, you know that this rescue mission is extremely dangerous?” 

“Of course, I do, but I'm willing to face any danger to save Snorkmaiden” Determination could be seen in Moomin’s eyes, and this made Joxter smile. 

“So, you’re really up to task of saving your friend no matter the risk? Think about it very carefully, cause there’s no going back after this” 

“I don’t have to think about, I’m up to this no matter what” Moomintroll was fully determined to save his friend. 

That was all Joxter needed to hear to make a decision. 

“If that’s how you truly feel then I guess I have no choice” Joxter tipped the brim of his hat “Pack up your stuff kid, we’ll take you to the Lost settlement” 


	2. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moomintroll says goodbye to his family and leaves the island.
> 
> The Oshun Oxtra crew properly introduces to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if it took me this long to update, school out nowhere decided to become a big pain.

“So, you’re really up to task of saving your friend no matter the risk? Think about it very carefully, cause there’s no going back after this.”

“I don’t have to think about, I’m up to this no matter what.” Moomintroll was fully determined to save his friend.

That was all Joxter needed to hear to make a final decision.

“If that’s how you truly feel then I guess I have no choice” Joxter tipped the brim of his hat “Pack up your stuff kid, we’ll take you to the Lost settlement.”

Moomin couldn’t believe what he just heard, does this mean Joxter is going to help?

If he was honest, he never imagined this would work, but now it wasn’t the time to think about that.

“Hold up a second! Moomin, are you certain you want to do this? If that place is as dangerous as they say…”

“Of course I am! So please pappa, don’t try to change my mind, because that won’t happen.”

“Very well, if you really want to do this, I won’t stop you. Just be careful.” Moominpappa hugged his son tightly.

“Don’t mean to interrupt you, but we have to hurry. The trip to the Lost settlement is at least four days long. So, go and pack your things so we can leave immediately.” Joxter said.

Moomin wasted no more time and went straight home, he would have to ask his mother to help him pack because he wasn't entirely sure what he might need; but when he looked around to find her, she was nowhere to be seen.

 _“That’s odd…I could have sworn she was here with all of us.”_ Moomin thought, seems he had to pack everything by himself, if Mamma wasn’t around nothing could be done about it. He couldn’t waste more time looking for her.

* * *

Once inside his home, he started to look around for things that might come in handy in his journey.

“Moomintroll.” he turned around to see who called his name, it was mother, who had a sad expression on her face.

Moomin wanted to say something, but he had no idea of what exactly to say.

“So, you’re really leaving?”

“Yes.” his gaze was on the floor, for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to look at his mamma “I know that you don’t want me to go on such a dangerous trip, but I have to.”

“I know that, and I’m not going to stop you, actually I’m so proud of what you’re doing.” Moominmamma got closer to him and lifted his head with her paw so she could have one last look at his face “Still, a part of me really wished you could stay. It’s quite funny, deep down I always knew that you’ll leave us someday, and now that time has finally come, the only thing I want is for you to stay here with us…” she could feel herself close to crying, but she tried her best to remain strong.

Moomin placed his own paws hers to comfort her, “I won’t be gone forever mamma, Mr. Joxter said it’s a trip of four days, so I’ll be back in a week at most…. So please don’t cry.” he cleaned away a year that had creeped its way out, Moomintroll knew how his departure was breaking her heart, but there was no other choice at this point, if he didn’t leave, who would save Snorkmaiden?

Moominmamma embraced her son tightly in a warm hug, Moomin did the same thing and tears started to fall from his face. Even though he knew he would return in a couple of days, his heart still ached with the mere idea of him leaving his mother’s side. Moomintroll was more attached to his mamma and that wasn’t a secret, she has always been there for him no matter what, she comforted him in those days he was sad, and her sweet smile never failed to make his day brighter. The love and bond they had was strong, and nothing and no one can break it.

Moomintroll held his mother tightly, with his eyes closed and treasured every single second of this moment, he wanted to keep the warm feeling of his sweet Mamma’s hug in his mind.

Snufkin, didn’t meant to witness such a private moment, but he had to tell Moomintroll that they needed to leave immediately. Of course, he knocked the door before going inside (though the sound of it wasn’t that loud, so obviously no one answered), he never imagined he would encounter with such a tender and bittersweet moment. Snufkin heard the whole thing and that only made him feel worse, he was the reason a son and his mother had to be separated, and while it will be for only a couple of days, that did not make it any less painful. The young mumrik only looked at the scene for a little bit longer, he had no idea what a mother’s love feels like, for he never met his own mother, in fact, he doesn’t even remember if he had one at all, for he lost his memory when he was a little boy.

He hated the idea of interrupting the moment, but they needed to leave as soon as possible. So, he walked slowly to living room and let his presence known to the pair by coughing.

Moomintroll heard someone cough, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Snufkin standing beside the couch, not too far from where they were.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude but, we have to leave immediately Moomintroll, so if you’re done packing…”

“Right…. Sorry, I didn’t mean to take this long.” the troll slowly breaks the hug and got away from her mother’s embrace, even though he didn’t want too.

With the help of Moominmamma, Moomin packed everything he needed quite fast.

“I suppose that´s everything.” Moomintroll double checked that he had everything on his bag

“There’s one more thing I want to give you” Moominmamma opened a vault beside the bookshelf and took out a piece of clothing from it “I was waiting till your birthday to give it to you, but I think it would be better to give it to you now. That way you’ll have a small piece of your home with you.”

Moomin carefully grabbed the clothes and inspected them carefully. It was blue vest with some light blue embroidery on the borders of it.

“Oh mamma, it’s beautiful…thank you.” he had to held back his tears, for he felt like crying again.

“I’m glad you like it.” she said with a soft smile in her face “And Moomin, promise that you will at least write us to let us know you’re safe.” a paw was placed on his cheek, the touch being so tender as always.

“As soon as I save Snorkmaiden and we’re heading back home, I’ll send you a letter. I promise.” he hugged her once more, but this time it didn’t lasted too much.

“Don’t worry ma’am, I’ll make sure that he comes back safe and sound.” Snufkin reassured her.

“Thank you Snufkin, I appreciate it.”

“Well then, are you ready?” Snufkin asked Moomin.

“I’ve never been more ready in my life.” Moomintroll said with big confidence.

And with that, the two went outside, leaving Moominmamma all alone on the house.

* * *

“Well, it’s about time you showed up, for a moment I thought you had changed your mind.” Joxter said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you waiting for so long.”

“Don’t worry, what matters is that we’re ready to leave. But first, are you completely sure you still wanna do this kid?”

“Of course, I am, I already told you that. Why does everyone keep asking me the same question?” Moomin was now annoyed by this.

“Well, it’s just we’re gonna be gone for a couple of days and let’s just say some people can’t handle being far away from home for such a long time.” Joxter explained, he was mostly worried that Moomintroll would get some homesickness during the trip, and if he was honest, he preferred not to deal with that. So, even though this Moomin was determined on saving his friend, there was a chance he would change his mind during the trip.

“You don’t have to worry about that, I’ll be fine.”

Joxter smiled at the troll’s response, it has been a long time since he’s met someone with such a great conviction.

“Joxter, we’re ready to set sail!” Hodgkins exclaimed.

“Perfect! Time to go, coma all aboard now!” Joxter commanded as he boarded the ship, Snufkin and Moomintroll followed him.

Now that everyone was aboard, the anchor was lifted, and the sail was set up.

The ship was now getting away from the coast, Moomintroll watched his father and Snork at the beach, the two were wishing him good luck and to be safe. He wondered why his mother wasn’t there at the beach too, but then he noticed she was at the front door of their house, standing on the porch.

Moomin started to wave his hand and tears were about to run in his face, but he had to be strong. Eventually the island was out of sight.

“Are you planning on standing there all day?” Moomintroll turned around and saw Snufkin.

“No. I just… wanted to have one last look at my home.” despite his wish of leaving the island coming true, Moomintroll never imagined he would feel sad, perhaps it was just a natural feeling, he was going far away from his home for some time after all.

Snufkin only needed to look at the troll to figure out what was going on, Moomintroll was starting to feel homesick.

“Don’t worry in a week you and your friend will be back home, and everything will be back to normal, you’ll see!” Snufkin cheered him up.

 _‘I really hope so’_ Moomin thought.

Snufkin could see Moomintroll was a bit sad, but he had an idea, right now the young troll needed a distraction, and Snufkin knew exactly what to do.

“Hey, come with me, I think it’s time to introduce you to the crew.” Snufkin grabbed Moomin’s arm and guided him back to the deck.

“Luckily the wind is on our side, so there won’t be any need of making use of the engine.” Hodgkins was talking with Joxter, the two were walking out from the control room that was at the back, it looked quite small from the outside.

“That’s good news, that way we can save up the fuel and won’t waste a whole day of the trip by refilling the tank later on.” Joxter directed his gaze towards the two boys that were standing on the deck, waiting for him and Hodgkins to get out of the control room. “Snufkin, is a good thing you’re right here, we still have to talk about you being grounded again or did you thought I forgot about what happened?”

Snufkin only sighed, “Yeah I know...I’ll just give you my harmonica and stay in my room.” Just as he was about to get the instrument from his pocket, he was interrupted by his father.

“That won’t be necessary. I finally realized that punishment doesn’t work at all with you, no matter what I do, you still find a way to get in big trouble.” Joxter really wished his son wasn’t a troublemaker, but Snufkin got that from him, so nothing can be done about it. “But you will help Muddler with the chores for two weeks, is that clear?”

Snufkin nodded, he was relieved that this time his punishment wasn't that bad.

“Does this happen a lot?” Moomintroll asked.

“You have no idea.” Hodgkins laughed “I wasn’t kidding when I said Snufkin is such a troublesome boy.” He ruffled Snufkin’s hair, who was clearly embarrassed.

“Anyways, I was trying to give Moomintroll a small tour, also, I was hoping to introduce him properly to the crew.” Snufkin explained.

“Ah, I see. Well, the name is Hodgkins, we already met when you helped Snufkin.” Hodgkins shake paws with the troll “I don’t mean to be a showoff, but I designed and built this ship myself.” Moomintroll’s eyes went wide, this man built this ship by himself? Now that is quite admirable.

“The name’s Joxter kid, but you already know that. I’m the captain of this ship and the father of Snufkin.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Moomintroll smiled.

“The pleasure is all ours, after all you’re the son of our dear friend Moomin, though I think we should call him Moominpappa from now on” Joxter laughed. “I must say, you look a lot like your father when he was young.”

“Um…thanks?” Moomintroll felt a bit embarrassed, while he looked a lot like his dad physically, in personality they were completely different, the only thing they have in common is their longing for adventures. “So, you guys know my dad, right? How do you exactly know him?”

“We used to travel together! He used to be part of our crew, but he retired of this lifestyle after he met your mother.” Hodgkins explained.

“Oh! So, you’re the friends he mentioned in his memoirs!” Moomintroll exclaimed. “He only wrote down that he used to travel with a group of friends, but never said any names.”

“Phew, for a moment I was scared he’d forgotten about us” Joxter admitted. “Still, I’m gonna scratch him in the face next time I see him, for not writing down our names.”

The four laughed at this, Moomintroll was starting to feel more comfortable know, truth be told, he felt as if these people were his family now.

“Hey, where’s Muddler? He’s the only who hasn’t introduced to Moomintroll.” Snufkin had almost forgotten about him.

“He’s downstairs checking up our supplies, He should be done any minute now.”

“Muddler is the guy with a pot in his head, right?” Moomin asked

“Yep, he’s the one in charge of the cooking and cleaning.” Snufkin explained.

Suddenly, someone screamed and startled everyone at the deck, then Muddler came out running to the deck as if his life were in danger. The man immediately clung onto Hodgkins.

“Muddler, what the heck was that?! You scared us to death!” Joxter scolded Muddler, but then calmed down when he saw the guy was truly scared. “Okay, Muddler, could you tell us what’s wrong?”

“Th-There’s someone downstairs!” Muddler stuttered, truly the guy got the scare of his life.

Then steps could be heard coming right to them. Joxter immediately ordered Snufkin and Moomintroll to get behind him, then drew his sword out. As far as they knew, the intruder could be a dangerous individual who got into their ship and hid in the stock room, till they got a chance to strike.

The steps started to get louder, Hodgkins got his weapon out as well, and Joxter tightened the grip on his sword. But for everyone’s surprise, the cause of the steps was a small girl, with green eyes, orange colored hair tied into a high ponytail and that was wearing a red dress and a pink bandanna around her neck that faced to the back.

“Little My?” Moomintroll spoke up, confused that the girl was here. But Little My didn’t not cared and walked past the group.

“Well, looks like we’re far away from home now” Little My was looking at the sea “Seems that ocean hasn’t changed that much. It’s still very empty.”

“Little My, what in the world are you doing here? You are supposed to be at home!” Moomintroll wanted answers from her.

“I wanted to join you. And no one told me to stay at home, am I right?” The girl smirked.

Moomintroll, realized she wasn’t wrong, no one told her to stay at home, neither that she couldn’t come. “Okay you’re right on that, but this could be really dangerous, and I’m supposed to do this on my own.”

“Oh please, we know you wouldn’t last a day out there on your own.” Little My rolled her eyes “Which is why I hid inside a box full of supplies, and waited for the right time to come out, because I know you will end up killing yourself if you try do this by yourself.”

“You think I am not capable of handling this by myself? That I can’t take care of myself?” Moomintroll was starting to get mad.

“Yes. You wouldn’t last a day far away from home without getting yourself hurt, cause you’re that clumsy.”

That was the icing in the cake, and so the two started arguing with each other. Moomintroll was trying to tell Little My he can take care of himself and that he must do this alone, while the small girl simply keeps telling him his clumsiness will get him killed in the long run.

Joxter rolled his eyes at such sight, all teenagers were the same, fighting over the silliest things. Good thing Snufkin wasn’t like that.

“Well, what do we do now with the girl Joxter?” Hodgkins asked.

“She can’t come with us, I only agreed to take the moomin to the Lost settlement. I never agreed in taking more people.”

“But we are too far from their home island, wouldn’t take make us waste time and fuel? I mean the wind would be against us, and we’d have to refill the tank later.” Muddler commented.

“He has point Joxter, turning back and leave her home is not an option.” Hodgkins agreed with his nephew “Besides, she will probably sneak herself in again.”

“Seems we have no option then.” Joxter turned to look at Moomintroll and Little My, who were still fighting. Snufkin only looked at the pair, not knowing what to do. “You two stop fighting at this instant or I’ll throw you into the ocean myself!”

Joxter’s threat was enough to stop their bickering.

“That’s better. Now, given our current situation, we have no option but to let the little one stay, as long as she doesn’t eat all our food and cause no trouble, I don’t mind having an extra passenger” Joxter explained “So welcome aboard young miss.”

Little My smiled triumphantly at Moomintroll, she had gotten away with zero consequences. Moomintroll only sighed in defeat, guess he has to deal with Little My during the whole trip, and here he thought he would have a nice time without her.

“By the way, I think you forgot to pack something very important Moomin.” Little said.

“Really? Uh…I’m sure I brought everything I need with me….” He tried to recall what he could have possibly forgotten.

“I’m talking about a sword, you idiot!”

Oh. A sword. He didn’t bring one. “Oh…I guess I forgot about that…”

“You don’t have a sword or any weapon with you?” Joxter asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t. Since our island is a peaceful place, there’s no need to own any kind of weapon.” Moomintroll explained.

“I see. But that can be fixed.” Joxter then left off to get something, everyone was confused, except for Hodgkins, who had an idea of what Joxter was about to do.

When the man returned, he had a sword in its sheath, which was of a navy-blue color and some gold details over it. “Here, you can use this sword” Joxter handed it over to Moomintroll, who reluctantly, accepted it.

The young troll removed the sword from the cover, its blade made of iron reflected his face, and the handle that was made of silver shined brightly.

“Mr. Joxter...Are you sure I can use this sword?” Moomintroll didn’t felt like it was a good idea for someone as him to wield such a perfect blade.

“Of course, actually, that sword is yours to keep” Joxter said with a smile on his face, meanwhile Moomin had a bewildered look on his face.

“I-I don’t think I’m the right person to own this sword!”

“There’s no one better to keep it than you, you’re Moominpappa’s son after all” This made the troll shocked, and his reaction did not go unnoticed by Joxter. “I know what you’re going to say next, and the answer to that is, the sword belonged to your father. After he separated from our group, he left this old thing with us, as way to remember him. Given that you’re his son, it only feels right to give it to you.”

Moomintroll did not know what to say, he was just surprised to have his father’s sword in his paws. He just contemplated the object, and then his face expressed utter confusion.

“Let me guess, you don’t know how to use a sword, do you?” Moomin nodded his head in denial, Joxter only sighed. “Very well then, it’s better to work on that right away” The man looked at Snufkin “Snufkin, unsheathe your sword, you’re gonna help me teach this young man how to fight”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And once again, I apologize for any grammar mistakes, I always end up missing some even though review the work 5 times.
> 
> Next time we'll see Moomintroll learn the art of swordfightinh. Spoiler, he sucks at it.
> 
> Also, once more I have no sense of balance between dialogue and normal story text, and I think I forgot how to properly format the paragraphs.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I wasn't expecting the first chapter of this crazy AU story to be so long XD.
> 
> Anyways I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, despite the strange writing xd.
> 
> (And I suck at putting titles, I know that)


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